CIA destroyed 92 interrogation tapes

WASHINGTON — New documents show the CIA destroyed nearly 100 tapes of
terror interrogations, far more than has previously been acknowledged.

The revelation Monday comes as a criminal prosecutor is wrapping up his investigation
in the matter.

The acknowledgment of dozens of destroyed tapes came in a letter filed by government
lawyers in New York, where the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit
seeking more details of terror interrogation programs.

“The CIA can now identify the number of videotapes that were destroyed,”
said the letter by Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin. “Ninety two videotapes
were destroyed.”

ACLU attorney Amrit Singh said the CIA should be held in contempt of court for holding back the information for so long.

“The large number of videotapes destroyed confirms that the agency engaged in a systematic attempt to hide evidence of its illegal interrogations and to evade the court’s order,” Singh said in a statement.

The tapes became a contentious issue in the trial of Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias
Moussaoui, after prosecutors initially claimed no such recordings existed, then
acknowledged two videotapes and one audiotape had been made.

The letter, dated March 2 to Judge Alvin Hellerstein, says the CIA is now gathering
more details for the lawsuit, including a list of the destroyed records, any
secondary accounts that describe the destroyed contents, and the identities
of those who may have viewed or possessed the recordings before they were destroyed.

But the lawyers also note that some of that information may be classified,
such as the names of CIA personnel that viewed the tapes.

“The CIA intends to produce all of the information requested to the court
and to produce as much information as possible on the public record to the plaintiffs,”
states the letter.

John Durham, a senior career prosecutor in Connecticut, was appointed to lead
the criminal investigation out of Virginia.

He had asked that the requests for information in the civil lawsuit be put
on hold until he had completed his criminal investigation. Durham asked that
he be given until the end of February to wrap up his work, and has not asked
for another extension.

Durham’s spokesman, Tom Carson, had no immediate comment.

The criminal investigation into the CIA’s videotapes included interrogations of al-Qaida lieutenant Abu Zubaydah and another top al-Qaida leader. They were destroyed, in part, to protect the identities of the government questioners at a time the Justice Department was debating whether the tactics used during the interrogations — which are believed to have included waterboarding — were illegal.

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